First Impressions
by idcabtthisish
Summary: This is a series of times when Katniss had the wrong impression of somebody. Three-shot. Rated M for language & the last chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm not Suzanne Collins. I'd much rather be JK Rowling.**

Haymitch had jokingly said he was a nice guy, humble even.

"Really?" she had asked skeptically.

Haymitch snorted. "Hell no," and then proceeded to call him a peacock.

Yet Haymitch had chosen him to give the gold bangle to, thus making them allies.

Finnick Odair.

A royal pain in her ass from the moment he asked her about sugar cubes.

Until he saved Peeta Mellark by bringing him back to life after that force field had killed him.

She'd nearly killed him that day, because he'd pushed her out of the way and she thought that he was going to kill her, but thankfully she didn't release her arrow. She watched with tears in her eyes as Finnick tried to revive Peeta with mouth-to-mouth.

He claimed before that he wanted to know all her secrets. Apparently he found out one she was still learning about herself: how she felt about Peeta.

She didn't trust him, and that proved just how young naïve she was, because the man saved her ass more times than she could count, and literally saved Peeta's ass when it counted the most.

Still, he was cocky.

"Well I guess we're not holding hands anymore," he had said, clearly amused.

And he was way too sure of himself, even though he had the right to be, because he was insanely strong and incredible with a trident.

It was just so easy to hate him, with his Greek-like body, six pack, bronze colored skin, dirty blond curls, and sea green eyes that could make any woman weak in the knees.

It was easy to see how women fell for him, if she wasn't partial to cerulean blue eyes that rivaled District 4's cleanest ocean and blond locks that glittered like gold champagne on his worst day—that is, if she admitted that she was partial to a blue eyed blond haired boy.

Though they were allies it still took some time for Katniss to realize that maybe somewhere along the way she had misjudged Finnick. It took them being trapped together, both hearing their loved one's voices escape out of the mouth's of Jabberjays that Finnick had feelings too, and a family that he wanted to get back home too, just as much as she did.

Something like that tends to bring you closer together. They were the only two who experienced that. Who else could understand?

It hit her then, that maybe there was more to Finnick than Katniss knew or understood.

He always had her back, at least, and she started to realize that maybe she was wrong about him.

It took them being in 13 for something to really click into Katniss' mind. Haymitch had given him the bangle. She'd been wrong about Haymitch all this time. He was calculating, cruel, and could lie so well his pants should be permanently ablaze, therefore consuming him in all his alcohol glory.

Haymitch, who had been scheming with an underground Revolution for years, had given Finnick, of all people, the token to show that they were a team.

Haymitch, who had chosen to save Finnick over Peeta, just like he had chosen her.

It should have made Katniss resent Finnick even more, but it didn't.

It made her hate Haymitch more, if anything.

But how could she hate Finnick when he was in the same boat she was in? Annie, his girl, had been taken to the Capitol too, just like Peeta.

If anything she realized she could learn a thing or two from Finnick. Even as the Darling of the Capitol he had found love with somebody, and it didn't take her getting taken for him to realize it, even if he did claim she crept up on him.

He was better than her. He saw love, recognized it for what it was, and embraced it while he had the chance.

When he told her that he thought she loved Peeta, she realized that he had gotten his wish to know her secrets.

And then he revealed the biggest secret of all: the fact that Snow had turned him into a prostitute. She had felt positively horrible, and it took a lot to make her feel horrible. Just the thought that all those rumors of him and all his lovers was nothing more than an act for the cameras, just like she and Peeta had been doing all this time.

It was a difficult propo to watch and shoot, and she felt like an idiot as she listened to him talk, revealing secrets of poison and perfume to mask the scent of blood. How could she be so stupid to think that she and Peeta were the only ones who had to deal with the wrath of Snow? Was her bubble that small? Her mind that warped? Wasn't Haymitch living proof that Snow could do anything to anybody at any given time?

But she never expected it. It blindsided her, the depth of his deception, and how well he played the part. He was believable.

The thing that sticks out in Katniss' mind, though, even more than his transformation when Annie was rescued, and he had gone back to his usual self, was the way he helped her with Peeta.

He knew what it was like to love someone who was crazy, and his game of questions, which later turned into Real, Not Real, saved her relationship.

He was brilliant, Finnick Odair was, and as she watched his son watch his bride walk down the aisle, Finn an exact replica of his deceased father, Katniss couldn't help but remember Finnick's wedding in 13 to Annie all those years ago.

Annie openly wept with joy that her son had found somebody to love. As if that wasn't enough, all of his father's old friends had gathered together. Annie had her arm intertwined in Katniss' and she had her fingers locked with Peeta, their daughter and son sitting next to them.

Katniss sat there, tears prickling her eyes as she watched the man, once a little boy, who came from a man she never would have suspected could create such a wonderful creature as Finn.

She wished she'd gotten a chance to tell Finnick sorry for all the misjudgment, and thank you for teaching her the beauty of questions, and showing her how much she loved Peeta during a time that she was still confused.

He had protected her, and eventually they had grown to care about each other.

It was ironic, really, how he had survived two Hunger Games and joined a Revolution to take down the Capitol, but he was still taken by mutts. Sure it had been in combat, but she'd rather him have died by a gunshot wound or fighting.

Something. Anything, really, other than the way he went.

He deserved a much better death.

As she watched Finnick's son, with tears in his sea green eyes, eyes just like his father's, smile at the future Mrs. Finn Odair, it pained Katniss to know that Finnick not only never met his son, but never even knew he existed.

Finnick would have been so proud of Finn on this day, and it'd be him that would be sitting right next to Annie as opposed to Katniss.

They would have made it through all the hardships after the Rebellion, just like she and Peeta had, because she had been wrong about Finnick Odair.

And she hoped, wherever he was now, that he knew how sorry she was for that.


	2. Chapter 2

She had never expected them to be friends.

From the moment she waltzed on that elevator, undressing herself in front of all of them until she was in nothing more than her birthday suit, making fun of her for her purity, Katniss hated Johanna Mason.

She ignited this feeling of… rage inside of Katniss, though she couldn't understand why or place the reason for the rage. She just knew Peeta was watching Johanna as she stripped, and if that wasn't enough, she started _flirting_ with Peeta.

And he had the nerve to flirt back.

"How does it feel now that the entire world wants to sleep with you?" she had asked.

And the three of them, Johanna, Haymitch, and Peeta, had all shared a laugh at Katniss' expense, mortifying her. She'd been furious, but again, she couldn't touch on why, so she paraded around, angrily, under the false pretenses that she didn't like to be made fun of, because to admit to herself that Johanna had made her jealous was just too much for her to take.

Then Johanna saw her in Snow's wedding dress, and after Johanna looked at her with disdain, Katniss made the decision to tell her the truth: that Snow was making her wear it.

Johanna could be damned intimidating when she wanted to—which was most of the time—so Katniss tried not to falter or step back when Johanna approached her. "Make him pay for it," had been all she said, and it was enough to make her look at Johanna Mason just a little bit differently.

And Katniss had to admit that she was impressed with Johanna's bold choice of words during her interviews. "Fuck that, and fuck all of you who had anything to do with it." And Katniss realized that Johanna was right; they _had_ promised that if they won the Games, they'd life out the rest of their days in riches, glory, and honor.

Yet here they were.

Again.

The Quarter Quell.

Because they were rebels, and they had made too much noise, and President Snow had to remind them all who was really in charge and silence even the most radical of them.

When Finnick allied with her it was just all the more reason to not trust either one of them. It was just more proof that these people had been friends for years, and that she and Peeta were the odd ones out.

Johanna was bossy, obnoxious, annoying even, but she was good with an axe, so that was that.

But she was also impatient and hotheaded, so Katniss took it upon herself to clean off Wiress and to get the older woman away from Johanna and her cruel words.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Katniss didn't have the time to be smug. It would have been so terribly easy to chide Johanna and say if she had just taken the time to listen to Wiress, she could have and would have figured out that Wiress was trying to say the Arena was a clock.

But Katniss couldn't do that. Instead they waited for Beetee to come up with a plan that would change everything with the lightening tree.

Only nothing went according to plan.

Not that Katniss knew at the time that there was a bigger plan.

All she knew is that one minute they had decided on something, and the next minute it all went to shit.

And then Johanna betrayed her, nearly knocking her out, and digging harshly, violently even, into her arm.

Katniss had never hated the bitch more.

After blowing up the force field, Katniss was unconscious for God knows how long. She'd been delirious when she'd done it. She didn't even know _why_ she was doing it. The idea had struck her out of nowhere, and it made so much sense at the time. She saw the wire, and she had her bow, so why the fuck not end it all?

Except when she came back around, after scuffling with Haymitch once she saw her _mentor_ in the likes with Finnick and Plutarch Heavensbee, she was told about this plan, this bigger picture, this _Revolution_ they'd been planning since forever.

Peeta was gone.

And so was Johanna.

Katniss probably could have been indifferent to it all. She'd lost Peeta, the only one she'd ever really wanted to save, except Johanna ended up being an intricate part of her life after she'd been rescued from the Capitol, even if she came back barring harsh words. There was something so raw, so real about Johanna that Katniss started to like.

And on a rainy day during training, where Johanna was shaking so badly she couldn't even put her gun together, Katniss assembled Johanna's gun for her, and they became something like friends, and then roommates.

Their friendship would last for the rest of their lives.

Katniss would have never thought Johanna would come to 12, forcing a pregnant Katniss out of bed, and taking her into her woods. They walked for what felt like hours, which proved to Katniss how tired she truly was from carrying this baby.

Johanna doesn't know where she's going, but Katniss knows that she bought her out here to talk. Katniss takes lead and shares the lake with Johanna, sitting down near the edge and letting her feet drop into the cool water.

"So apparently you're having a hard time with this pregnancy, Mockingjay," she said to Katniss.

Katniss thought about not saying anything, but this is Johanna. Her _friend_, as crazy as she and that is. "I'm scared," she finally admits.

"You're insane, Katniss," scolded Johanna. "You've survived two Hunger Games and you're the fucking Mockingjay. You killed two presidents and you're the face of the rebellion. Your husband, this baby's father, also survived two Hunger Games, plus his love for you undid all the torture and hijacking that the Capitol did to him. As if that weren't enough, this baby's God-father is Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the 50th Hunger Games, which was a Quarter Quell, and he was the brains behind the Revolution. And that's just the beginning. The baby also had a God-mother everybody thought was a Capitol puppet with her damn pink hair until she was tortured but never once gave you, or Haymitch, up. Our current President, President Paylor, signed a law that said that no cameras are allowed in 12 for at least the next several years to ensure your child has a normal, healthy life….. Nothing is gonna happen to this kid. Nothing can happen to this kid. And if anything, God forbid, does, can you imagine what'll happen? Think about how brilliant Haymitch was as a drunk. He's ten times that man sober, and he's been sober for fifteen years. Peeta? Peeta may fight flashbacks every now and then, but he's anything but weak. And you? Do you really think you would just sit idle if something happened? This country would never survive the wrath you guys would bestow upon the Districts if anything ever happened. You have nothing to be afraid of. If anything, we should all be afraid of you."

Now as Katniss watched Johanna laughing with Willow, she knew her friend was right. Their children were safe. Things had changed since the Revolution. Hell they were here, at Finn's wedding, in District 4, and it had been easy to get here. She was allowed to travel again, but even if she hadn't the people of Panem were allowed to travel to different Districts now.

She'd never known Johanna could ever let anybody in, but she had. Not just Katniss and Peeta, but Gale, and their three children; Katniss' niece and two nephews. She had indeed seriously misjudged Johanna Mason, and she was happy that first impressions weren't always correct impressions.


	3. Chapter 3

She lost count of how many times she misjudged _this_ one. From day one she had assumed that he was wealthier, better, entitled, all because his father owned the bakery.

Yet Peeta Mellark had an uncanny ability to be genuinely kind hearted, and it scared the shit out of her. Even when he threw the bread at her, and had gotten hit in the face with a rolling pin, and had showed up to school with a bruised cheek, he never blamed her. When their eyes locked the next day, briefly, before the dandelion had distracted her and caught her eye, there was still a warmth in those sky blue eyes before he looked down, blushing, seconds before she lost him in the crowd.

Even after that, though, she watched as he got stronger as they grew older. Definitely wasn't missing any meals, that one. And she never thought she resented him for it, but something close to relief found its way into her heart once he told her that they ate the stale bread no one bought for dinner.

Maybe he wasn't as rich as she thought, which meant they were more alike than she thought, and why she wanted them to be alike was beyond her.

His father actually bought her cookies when they were Reaped. She assumed it was a trick, a ploy to distract from the fact that they all would want her dead, and she couldn't help but think, on that train ride that would change her life, wouldn't it just be easier to get it over with now?

Only he didn't want her dead, which she found out soon enough as she spent time with him.

He was easy to like, even if he did make her feel… different.

Then he went and mortified her by claiming he had a crush on her, and nothing was ever the same after that.

Ever.

It confused her, still confused her to this day, how Peeta Mellark had ever thought twice about Katniss Everdeen.

And in her confusion over the years she continued to misjudge him. From joining the careers to admitting how he'd loved her since she was five years old in a cave, she had misjudged him. And she continued to do so when she broke his heart on a train ride home, becoming more and more confused as they got closer and closer to Gale, her best friend, who if she owed anything to, it was loyalty.

Not love, necessarily, but loyalty.

And then she feared Peeta would tell all of Panem that she was lying, that they weren't the star-crossed lovers, only he doesn't betray her, and damn it all to hell when he kisses her for the first time since that train ride home she didn't think she'd _still_ feel something for the boy…..

He wanted to be friends. Another misjudgment on her part, because really she thought he'd want nothing to do with her, and he had every right to feel that way after what she did to him.

Only Peeta, ever the kind one, started to get to know her, which in turn made her start to get to know him.

And then those arms, those strong, muscular arms, were there one night, comforting her after a nightmare, and she started to question what it was that was happening. He still loved her, obviously, and she has no idea what to do with that love, but for now she'll ask him to stay.

He whispered something into the night, and she won't admit that she pretends she didn't hear the word, "Always."

She just told herself she never quite made out what he said.

Only she remembered how important that word is, how much it meant to her, that night in the Capitol, when she kissed him for the first time since the Quarter Quell.

Always.

But before that, before the Quell, after the announcement, when they were training like Careers, she thought about how easy it would be to hate him, because he was fucking crazy, and she could think that, then, because at the time she hadn't known what crazy meant.

She had assumed the Capitol had taken him from her, and Katniss had given up hope in believing that he'd ever become her boy with the bread again. They grew distant, but she should have known he would return to her the minute he stopped her from taking that pill that would have ended it all. She'd been too crazy, then, too heartbroken over Prim's death to notice much of anything, other than the everlasting ache in her heart at her sister's death.

Yes, she had just misjudged Peeta Mellark several times, but he came back to 12, planting his primroses in front of her porch.

For her.

And he helped her with the book, as hard as it was for him, and she helped him remember, as hard as it was for her. And when he asked her questions about train rides and soft kisses when there were no cameras, and why had he told the world there was a baby when she could hardly hold his hand, she tried to tell him how real all that was now, even if it wasn't then.

His flashbacks grew farther and farther apart, and she tried not to get her hopes up, but he was Peeta Mellark, and he made her hope against her will, like he always had, like he always would.

She hoped for happiness, and got it every time he kissed her.

She hoped for safety every time he touched her, even when it was his hands, and eventually _him_, in all his naked glory. And she _did_ always feel safe, whenever he was inside of her, because he was there, shielding her, making her forget about mutt mutations and lost children. And the way her hips rocked to his made her realize that she'd always been safest in his arms. Flashbacks didn't matter. There had been plenty of times she had crawled on top of his lap after he'd tied himself to a chair, murmuring 'Not real, not real, not real,' until he came back to her, and then she'd untie him and take him inside of her before he could even get out of the chair, reminding herself, and him that _this_, right here, right now, was _real_.

He also made her hope for new beginnings, and after fifteen years she gave in and had his baby. It's been one of the most horrifying things she'd ever experienced, at the top of the list, right under Prim's death, his death in the Quarter Quell and him being taken from the Capitol. But every promise he ever made, about Katniss loving and protecting the child as soon as she had the child, ended up coming true, and it didn't take her long to agree to have another one.

Besides, there was a lot of pleasure in making the children.

She had miscalculated how much he could love her. The fifteen-year-old who'd been Reaped with her paled in comparison to the man who was beaming at Finn as if he were his own son—and in a way, Finn had been, for a while. How many summers did Finn spend in 12 with them? How many games did they play over the years?

She had never known he'd be such a good husband, or such an amazing dad.

And even now, after all these years and two children later, Peeta could still make her body melt and her toes curl, which he proved as they slow danced together, one of many couples on the dance floor next to Finn and his bride.

They had grey in their hair now, his silver matching the color of her eyes. His eyes were still just as blue as ever, the love even more evident now.

He still adored her.

And after all this time she could finally show him—and occasionally express— how much he meant to her as well.

He pulled her in closer, holding the small of her back, and she felt her heartbeat speed up.

He could still do that too.

And though they had children they'd have to get to bed, and that was always a chore, at least for Rye, who was as stubborn as his mother, and always liked to be in the thick of things, which means he hated sleeping because he might miss something, that still didn't stop Peeta from blowing softly in her ear, sending a familiar shiver down her spine.

"I can't wait to get this dress off of you tonight," he told her huskily, and even now this man could make her blush.

But she was nowhere near as pure as she once was. He had seen to that. She ground her hips against his to let him know that she couldn't wait either, and made him moan.

Yes, she had been wrong about Peeta Mellark.

But not as wrong as she'd been about herself.

Because the assumption that she wouldn't want to get married, or love anybody as much as her mother had, or ever have children…

Well that was just an assumption that ended up being not real.

**Might continue this, might not. Not sure. I'd really like to see one about Haymitch, Effie, and Mrs. Everdeen…. Anybody you all want to see? Or maybe I should just keep it a three-shot, and end it here. What do you all think?**

**Patiently waiting,**

**-thamockingjayandpeeta**


End file.
